Relations Between Ethnic Diversity of Organization and Organization Identity of Its Employees

This study examines the relationship between ethnic heterogeneity in an organization and the organizational identity of its employees. Ethnic heterogeneity was represented in the diversity of nationalities, cultural values, linguistic diversity, and differences in employee religious beliefs. These aspects were evaluated in terms of an asset, a challenge, a problem, or as not being a problem for the organization. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the degree of diversity of these aspects in the organization, employees' perceptions of these aspects of diversity and their organizational identity based on social identity theory and self-categorization. The DOPA (Diversity in organizations: perceptions and approaches) methodology and the ingroup identity measurement technique were used as a methodological framework. The data were processed using regression analysis. The results confirmed the hypothesis that there was a negative relationship between the perception of ethnic diversity as a challenge and a problem and the organizational identity of the employee. In addition, there was a positive relationship between the degree of linguistic diversity and the organizational identity of employees in such an organization. This study can contribute to a thorough study of the subtleties and nuances of ethnic diversity in Russia, which differs in its composition from Western countries.